UB research shows how pronouns can be used to build confidence in stressful situations

Self-distancing language can help us ‘see’ ourselves through someone else’s eyes

“We found that self-distancing did not lead to lower task engagement.... Instead, self-distancing led to greater challenge than self-immersion, which suggests people felt more confident after self-distancing.”

Mark Seery, associate professor of psychology

University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. – You’re preparing for a major
presentation. Or maybe you have a job interview. You could
even be getting ready to finally ask your secret crush out on a
date.

Before any potentially stressful event, people often engage in
self-talk, an internal dialogue meant to moderate anxiety.

This kind of self-reflection is common, according to Mark Seery,
a University at Buffalo psychologist whose new study, which applied
cardiovascular measures to test participants’ reactions while
giving a speech, suggests that taking a “distanced
perspective,” or seeing ourselves as though we were an
outside observer, leads to a more confident and positive response
to upcoming stressors than seeing the experience through our own
eyes.

The findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology with co-authors Lindsey Streamer, Cheryl Kondrak,
Veronica Lamarche and Thomas Saltsman, illustrate how the strategic
use of language in the face of tension helps people feel more
confident.

“Being a fly on the wall might be the way to put our best
foot forward,” says Seery, an associate professor in
UB’s Department of Psychology and an expert on stress and
coping. “And one way to do that is by not using first-person
pronouns like ‘I’. For me, it’s saying to myself,
‘Mark is thinking this’ or ‘Here is what Mark is
feeling’ rather than ‘I am thinking this’ or
‘Here is what I’m feeling.’

“It’s a subtle difference in language, but previous
work in other areas has shown this to make a difference – and
that’s the case here, too.”

Seery says most everyone engages in self-talk, but it’s
important to understand that not all self-talk is equally effective
when contemplating future performance. We can either self-distance
or self-immerse.

For the study, researchers told 133 participants that a trained
evaluator would assess a two-minute speech on why they were a good
fit for their dream job. The participants were to think about
their presentation either with first-person (self-immersing) or
third-person pronouns (self-distancing).

While they delivered their speeches, researchers measured a
spectrum of physiological responses (how fast the heart
beats; how hard it beats; how much blood the heart is pumping; and
the degree to which blood vessels dilated or constricted), which
provided data on whether the speech is important to the presenter
and the presenter’s level of confidence.

“What this allows us to do is something that hasn’t
been shown before in studies that relied on asking participants to
tell researchers about their thoughts and feelings,” says
Seery. “Previous work has suggested that inducing
self-distancing can lead to less negative responses to stressful
things, but that can be happening because self-distancing has
reduced the importance of the event.

“That seems positive on the face of it, but long-term that
could have negative implications because people might not be giving
their best effort,” says Seery. “We found that
self-distancing did not lead to lower task engagement, which means
there was no evidence that they cared less about giving a good
speech. Instead, self-distancing led to greater challenge than
self-immersion, which suggests people felt more confident after
self-distancing.”

Seery points out that some of the most important moments in life
involve goal pursuit, but these situations can be anxiety provoking
or even overwhelming.

“Self-distancing may promote approaching them with
confidence and experiencing them with challenge rather than
threat.”